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International Criminal Court Issues First Sentence

Thomas Lubanga, right, at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Tuesday.Credit
Pool photo by Jerry Lampen

PARIS — The International Criminal Court in The Hague sentenced a Congolese warlord to 14 years in prison on Tuesday for using child soldiers in his rebel army in 2002 and 2003. The sentence was the first imposed by the court in its history.

Thomas Lubanga, a psychologist turned militia leader, was found guilty in March of “widespread” use of girls and boys under the age of 15, who were often abducted by his group, trained and then used to terrorize and kill villagers in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The presiding judge, Adrian Fulford, said that the sentence reflected “undoubtedly very serious crimes” that violated the protections that must be afforded to children. But the sentence was far short of the 30 years the prosecution had sought.

Mr. Lubanga, 51, who once led the Union of Congolese Patriots and asked every family in his region to contribute a cow, money or a child to his militia, will receive credit for the six years he has already spent in custody in The Hague. If he ends up in a European prison, his sentence could be further reduced if he is released on good behavior after serving two-thirds of his sentence, a common practice on the Continent.

Judge Fulford made a point of praising Mr. Lubanga for his conduct and cooperation in court.

The sentence, after a halting three-year trial, drew renewed attention to another suspect wanted by the court: Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which for years abducted children and turned them into soldiers as it rampaged through at least four Central African countries.

Other tribunals, including the war crimes court for Sierra Leone, have dealt with similar crimes in recent years, but the ruling by the International Criminal Court, with its near global scope and high visibility, carries particular weight. It is the first permanent tribunal with a continuing mandate to investigate atrocities in countries under its jurisdiction when national courts are unwilling or unable to act.

Photo

Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in prison for using child soldiers in his Congolese rebel army.Credit
Pool photo by Jerry Lampen

The case also underscored the teething problems at the court, which was created in 1998 and opened in The Hague in 2002. Though 121 nations recognize it, three major ones — the United States, China and Russia — do not.

One problem has been the persistent tension between the prosecution and the bench. In unusually sharp language, Judge Fulford, a Briton who led the panel of three judges, sharply criticized the chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on Tuesday, saying he had made a number of errors. The prosecutor failed to charge Mr. Lubanga with sexual violence, the judges said, even though Mr. Moreno-Ocampo made repeated public claims that the militia was responsible for widespread rape and that girl soldiers were made sexual slaves.

Judge Fulford threw out the case twice and ordered Mr. Lubanga released because of prosecutors’ errors and refusal to follow orders from the bench, which he said were making a fair trial impossible. Both times, appeals judges ordered that the trial be resumed and the errors corrected.

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As his sentence was read aloud, Mr. Lubanga clasped his chin and listened quietly.

One of the three judges, Elizabeth Odio Benito of Costa Rica, disagreed with the sentence and in a dissenting opinion said that 15 years would have been more appropriate given the harm done to the victims and their families.

Human rights groups had mixed reactions. André Kito, a Congolese human rights activist, said he regretted that crimes like “sexual violence, summary executions and pillage” were excluded from the trial.

Some groups pointed out that the sentence at least brought some justice to a war-weary country. More than five million people are believed to have died in Congolese conflicts since 1998.

Carla Ferstman, the director of Redress, a group that helps survivors of torture obtain justice and reparation, said she hoped that the trial would focus international attention on the plight of child soldiers. It is essential, she said, that the court quickly reach out to victims to explain the sentence and future steps, including reparation proceedings. The court allows for reparations for victims or their communities, but that issue was not addressed on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear where Mr. Lubanga would serve his sentence, although a half-dozen countries have agreed to accept convicts from the court. He might remain for some time in The Hague if his lawyers or prosecutors appeal the length of the sentence.

A version of this article appears in print on July 11, 2012, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Congolese Warlord Draws First Sentence From International Criminal Court. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe